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Oct 23, 2013

Beautiful Mess of Knots and Beads

We crafters have a big ego. We think that we can learn to make anything ourselves. We are averse to buying things that “are so easy to make”. The problem with this is that we always miscalculate the time and effort needed, and realize too late that it wasn’t easy after all. Sometimes we’ll get frustrated mid-project and say sinful things like “I wish I had just bought it ready!” But we don’t really mean it, because the true crafter loves challenges and is mostly interested in the process over the result.

Last month I was the maid of honor to one of my best friends back in Brazil. Luckily, she was here visiting a couple of months earlier and helped me find the perfect dress. And to go with the perfect dress, we also found the perfect belt. Unfortunately, the perfect belt was a bracelet and way out of my budget. Looking at it for two minutes I decided I could do it myself! Well, I am humble to say that it turned out to be quite an endeavor and after so many attempts, it didn’t get finished until the morning of the wedding, among near tears of desperation.

I started by trying to make exactly what I saw at the store (blue strings going through beads and the whole thing wrapped around metal rings), but that approach didn’t last very long. After many failed attempts, I had the idea of crocheting around the metal rings and beading only later. The effect I got was impressively similar to the original concept. A few double stitches here and a few slip stitches there, I managed to create a messy net of knots that enveloped my rings quite nicely and provided the structure I needed for my beads. The beading went fast enough, using blue thread and a needle. Lastly, I attached a ribbon to each side of the belt and tied them in a bow on the back.

The little accessory was a big success on my dress! And later on my hair! Surprisingly, this madness of stitches with very little method to it resulted in something beautiful.